Green City BBQ Festival (7/17/08)

Tickets are now available for sale via the Spice House website. I haven't been myself, but remember reading that it generally sells out. Adults $50, kids $10.

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The following prominent Chicago chefs will be participating in the Summer BBQ:

Rick Bayless - Frontera Grill and Topolobampo

Nancy Brussat and Noe Sanchez - Convito Cafe and Market

Helen Cameron - Uncommon Ground

John Caputo - A Mano

Greg Christian - Greg Christian Catering and Events

Terry Crandall - Peninsula Hotel

Christopher David - NoMi at the Park Hyatt

David DiGregorio - Osteria Via Stato

Kendal Duqe - Sepia

Kevin Erving - Ritz Carlton Hotel

Tim Graham & Meg Galus - Tru

Susan Goss - West Town Tavern

Roger Herring - Socca

Kevin Hickey - Four Seasons Hotel

Paul Kahan & Koren Grieveson - Blackbird and Avec

Bill Kim - Le Lan

Christine McCabe - Park Grill

Mark Mendez - Carnivale

Carrie Nahabedian - NAHA

Martial Noguier - 160 Blue

Ina Pinkney & Barry Sorkin - Ina’s and Smoque BBQ

Freddy Sanchez - Adobo Grill

Mindy Segal - Hot Chocolate

Debbie Sharpe - The Goddess and Grocer

Bruce Sherman - North Pond Cafe

Brian Shustrick - Limelight: Food Illunminated

Christina Sirtak - Fox and Obel

Sofia Solomon and Judith Schad - Capriole Farms Goat Cheese and Tekla, Inc.

Mark Sparacino - Prosecco

Sarah Stegner and George Bumbaris - Prairie Grass Cafe

Jason Stern, Christine Cikowski & Joshua Kulp - Sunday Dinner / Eat Green Foods

Guiseppe Tentori, Ryan Poli & Benjamin Browning - Boka, Perennial, and Landmark Grill

Heather Terhune - Atwood Cafe

Paul Virant - Vie

Carol Wallack - Sola

Eric Young - Scoozi!

Shelley Young - The Chopping Block

Dean Zanella - 312 Chicago

Eli's Cheesecake

The Plitt Company, Premium Seafood

Purdy Family Fisheries

I'll definitely be going - this was about the best food event I went to last year (and I just stumbled across it on my bike ride home). Highly recommended. -Dan

From an email I got today from the Spice House:

Time is running out to purchase online tickets for the Green City Market Chef's Summer Barbecue Festival July 17th.
Saturday, July 12th will be the last day we accept online ticket orders, as we cannot guarantee postal service any later.

I concur that this is a great event. Although it's a little pricey, the ticket price goes to support the Market.

For those who are not familiar with it, here is some information from the Green City Market website:

Green City Market wrote:Green City Market Chefs' Summer BBQ Festival
7/17/2008
6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

GREEN CITY MARKET
INVITES YOU TO ATTEND

THE 2008 CHEFS' SUMMER BBQ FESTIVAL

THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008 6:00 - 8:00 PM

Join over 50 of Chicago’s Top Chefs as they prepare delicious tastings using Green City Market foods at this popular annual culinary event. Musicians will add to the festivities.

Beverages include Goose Island Beer & Root Beer, Ice Mountain Water, Connoisseur Wines Tasting, Glunz Family Winery Sangria, and wines from August Hill Winery.

Adult tickets: $50 pre-event; $60 at gate and children are $10. Tickets are for sale at GREEN CITY MARKET each Wednesday & Saturday beginning June 13th through July 11th. Tickets can also be purchased on-line at http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/gre ... q-festival

I bought my ticket. Any other LTHers going this year?

aschie30 wrote:I bought my ticket. Any other LTHers going this year?

I'll be there as part of a group of 13, many of whom also happen to be LTH'ers. We'll see you there.

Even though the price is $50, when you consider what it gets you and how far that $50 would go at another food event, like Taste of Chicago, this really is a great value.

=R=

I'll see you guys there.

ronnie_suburban wrote:Even though the price is $50, when you consider what it gets you and how far that $50 would go at another food event, like Taste of Chicago, this really is a great value.

That's true; I hadn't considered the price in the context of another food event. Personally, I'm most looking forward to any ice cream by Mindy Segal. I still recall a corn ice cream of hers some years back . . .

Ellen and I will be there. Looking forward to the event.

I'll be there too. Hope to finally be able to meet some folks in person.

I'll be there with my plus-one. Last year's event was sensational.

I will be there plus 2. I am very excited to attend. It was helpful to see that last year's event seemed to be a success despite
the rain.

I always enjoy these "tasting-menu" events (which is how I like to think about them), but this one is my favorite. The chefs do a wonderful job of highlighting the wonderful produce of the Midwest and the location could not be nicer. So yes, I'll be there and I can't wait.

i can't figure out how to buy the tickets. i keep going to the website but i can't get to a purchase page. thanks

abolt wrote:i can't figure out how to buy the tickets. i keep going to the website but i can't get to a purchase page. thanks

Not sure but I think that at this point, you may need to go to a participating restaurant/shop to buy them.

=R=

The Spice House website confirms ronnie_suburban's comment: "As of Saturday, we are no longer mailing out tickets, as we do not want them held up somewhere in the mail. Tickets can be purchased in all three Illinois Spice House locations today through Thursday." -Dan

I will see you all there. This will be good to see so many LTHrs at one event.

This morning I had a chance to visit the new Marion St. Cheese, as good as Hammond said. What's that have to do with the Green City BBQ you say? Well, one of the things that had me most salvitating at Marion today was the large collection of La Quercia products including lardo and guanciale. And...

Somewhere or another in the list of peope serving tonight, I saw La Quercia. It should be a fun event. See you all there.

Vital Information wrote:
Somewhere or another in the list of peope serving tonight, I saw La Quercia. It should be a fun event. See you all there.

Hey Rob,

You know this event is tomorrow (Thursday the 17th), right? I'm just trying to save you some gas, just in case.

stevez wrote:

Vital Information wrote:
Somewhere or another in the list of peope serving tonight, I saw La Quercia. It should be a fun event. See you all there.

Hey Rob,

You know this event is tomorrow (Thursday the 17th), right? I'm just trying to save you some gas, just in case.

What about the ham I wanted tonight?

Vital Information wrote:What about the ham I wanted tonight?

You'll just have to look in the mirror

Next stop the Catskills?

I'm not sure if they hold any tickets back for the door, but unfortunately, the spice house was sold out yesterday...

hi everyone, I'm a long time reader but posting today for the first time with a request -- I've been so excited to attend this event but sadly, my partner in (foodie) crime who promised to purchase tix for us weeks ago flaked, thinking the event would not sell out (!?) and so now we are ticketless. does anyone have any inside info on how to possibly procure 2 extra tickets? thanks in advance...

AlyOx wrote:hi everyone, I'm a long time reader but posting today for the first time with a request -- I've been so excited to attend this event but sadly, my partner in (foodie) crime who promised to purchase tix for us weeks ago flaked, thinking the event would not sell out (!?) and so now we are ticketless. does anyone have any inside info on how to possibly procure 2 extra tickets? thanks in advance...

I would try to get in at the door . . . ($10 bucks extra, though).

Last night at Green City Market BBQ, in what can only be described as a Festival of All Things Pork, there was one bite that stood out: La Quercia’s most excellent meat, hand sliced by the owners, Herb and Kathy Eckhouse.



Carrie Nahabidian was there (it was Naha's booth), presiding over trays of tasty sandwiches, but...



...it was the simple, unadorned meat that I found most pleasing.



This, I could have eaten all night, and as I chatted with the Eckhouses, I tried to inobtrusively stuff my mouth at every opportunity. This is some good stuff -- I just wish I had a platter of it and a good beer on the back porch, rather than being shuffled about in Lincoln Park. This was a cool event, but I've concluded that eating, standing, with large crowds of people, in the heat, is way not optimal dining. Still, fun, and very satisfying to meet many of the folks who bring such truly outstanding chow to market.

Great event last night, although I practically needed to crawl to my car after eating way too much.

My favorites (although I'd have too difficult a time arguing with myself over the order):

Prairie Grass Cafe - Greek Sausage w/ Leeks (another reason I need to get back to PGC)

Naha - Grilled Ciabbatta w/ La Quercia "Berkshire" Prosciutto, Arugula, Cherry Chutney and Goat cheese. The prosciutto was great, but I also loved the entire composition

Green Zebra - Beets w/ Sheep's Milk Ricotta Mezzaluna and Tarragon Vinaigrette (perfect for the hot weather and beautiful in its simplicity)

Hot Chocolate - Peach Sorbet -- and the carrot cake pieces (the sorbet was perfect)

NoMi - Grilled Pork Belly w/ Pickled Tomatillo Relish (lots of pork last night . . . maybe even too much, and I love pork, but this was my favorite of all of the pork items)

Sepia - Blueberry Compote, Corn Bread and Sweetened Goat Cheese Cream (each element was great, and amazingly better when put together)

Blackbird - Rabbit Hot Links (forget what they said in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Blackbird is the Sausage King of Chicago).

David Hammond wrote:Last night at Green City Market BBQ, in what can only be described as a Festival of All Things Pork, there was one bite that stood out: La Quercia’s most excellent meat, hand sliced by the owners, Herb and Kathy Eckhouse.

Wholly agree!

One of my favorites, not yet mentioned, was Vie's pork sausage and pickles sandwich (I don't have the official title). The Naha ciabatta with proscuitto was a very close second. Unfortunately, we didn't hit the table with the folks who made the proscuitto. One dissapointment was the Blackbird rabbit sausage, which, to me, had almost no flavor, although Bunnie Weenies, as they called them, was a cute idea.

My faux pas: I've never seen Top Chef, so after receiving food from Stephie Izard, I said "You folks don't have a sign, what restaurant are you from?" She politely responded that some folks who had been on Top Chef set up the table.

Jonah

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

Apparently the pork shoulder/loin/belly.

I found to my surprise that no booth (by my count) featured chicken or egg products. I'm not complaining as most things were very good. But by about the 7th pork plate interspersed with a beet or a burger here or there, I was looking for for something a little different.

Highlight of the evening may well have been when Ms. Izard turned on the smile floodlights after a simple offhand congratulations.

Without pulling out the scorecard, I wanted to mention another memorable plate. I don't know if it was because it was my first bite but the grilled peaches with honey, goat cheese and salted cashews at the Atwood Cafe were a perfect apres-le-deluge amuse.

Oh, and I didn't fall into a coma, I straight out food-flatlined circa 9:15. How long did everyone else make it?

I liked the Atwood Cafe dessert, too. No surprise, the Illinois wines were a bit disappointing, with the exception of Lynfred - which I continue to insist is the finest winery in the entire western suburbs of Chicago - and imports its grapes - mostly from the West Coast.

I don't remember who was serving it, but I had an excellent chunk of beef rib.

Food coma set in quickly - I was able to make it home, then it was straight to a horizontal position. I know it's anathema to the LTH concept, but I have to work on pacing myself ...